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Now that such a bill has been made public (changes to be
made?), there is an uproar from both those who live in
Indiana and from the national media that the bill taints the
State of Indiana as a bunch of Neanderthal bigots.
The supporters of the Indiana legislation state that the
bill’s purpose is to guarantee that those who hold certain
religious beliefs are not forced to compromise them in order
to serve the LGBQT community.
In other words, if you have religious beliefs that
inform you that you do not and cannot support or serve such
people, then you should not be forced to capitulate and
provide them with goods and services such as wedding halls,
wedding cakes, massages and hotel rooms. Or anything that a
heterosexual person or a heterosexual couple would seek out,
consume or enjoy.
Part of the opposition to this request comes from
certain segments of the religious right and the Tea Party
adherents.
It is their belief that same sex marriages are an
abomination and a sin according to the Word of God.
On that point, I agree, since marriage was first
instituted by God and He explicitly stated that is was for a
man and a woman and not for same gender persons.
God has the copyright, patent and trademark on the word
marriage and any violation of that word and the institution
of marriage is not a marriage but a civil “union.”
However, when you begin to examine the word, ‘religious
freedom’ and its relationship with the LGBTQ community; and
you do so according to the articles of the Christian faith
as exemplified by Jesus the Christ; you must rethink your
thinking and understand that via the lens of the Word of
God, religious freedom dictates civility and equal treatment
to the LGBTQ community.
On what basis you ask? On the basis of love and
forgiveness. Anyone who professes to be a hearer and doer of
the Word of God cannot and does not have the luxury or
freedom to trash gay people as being disposable people
unworthy of being seen in their humanity.
A cursory reading of the Word of God would starkly
indicate that Jesus was not a man who ran from controversy
nor did he use any political cover or religious hubris to
issue many of his stinging rebukes about human conduct and
the woeful consequences of engaging in sin.
Jesus mixed with crowds of people who were called sinners
even to the point that onlookers were aghast at his behavior
including talking with a woman who had five husbands and
forgiving a woman caught in the very act of adultery. (Note:
it was a setup to test Jesus and how he would react).
Jesus was not a milquetoast prophet and the Son of God
who recoiled at sinners or their sins but, to the contrary,
he came to seek and save those which were lost in their
sins.
Therefore, for those who following the teachings of Jesus
the Christ, there is no
allowance or liberty for those who are “religious” to fret
and howl and wring one’s hands about providing goods and
services to the gay crowd.
Making a wedding cake for a gay couple is not your
personal endorsement of their lifestyle. Renting a wedding
hall to a queer couple does not mean that you tacitly accept
their lifestyle.
Jesus did not upfront disqualify anyone He encountered
on the basis of his or her lifestyle, choices of profession
or the virulent antagonism to who He was…remember Saul who
became Paul? He was a murderer of Christians and was a
zealot of his “religious” beliefs but later changed his ways
due to the grace of God.
People who go apoplectic at the mere thought of offering
goods and services to the LGBTQ community on the basis of
their religious beliefs are in error since they do not know
the scriptures.
One’s religious freedom does not require you to condone
or affirm what you do not believe about the LGBQT community
or their morals not being in synch with your religious
values.
But rather, if you take what is being asked by the LGBQT
community regarding
the goods and services that are being offered in the public
square, those are the same goods and services (to be added
with a copious dosage of civility I might add) that they
wish to partake of without having the door slammed in their
faces.
For those who profess a religious adherence to the Word
of God, one’s faith without works is considered dead and yet
your faith, with works, should show that your belief system
is not so fragile that if a transgender person was to ask
you for a cup of water, that you would not shudder and
grimace if your hand was to brush up against their hand.
If Jesus was walking on the Earth today, He would not
approve of nor condone same sex marriages but He call it
what it is, two same sex sinners sinning together but
wanting to call it a marriage.
Could you imagine Jesus not touching the untouchable
lepers or not engaging in life changing conversations with
the prostitutes and gluttons and thieves of His day due to
their lifestyles and how they looked or acted?
But yet, and tragically so, too many people who profess
Christ will get severe mental and emotional cramps if they
had to serve bi-sexuals or gay persons in their personal
space or via their business services.
(Note: ask if the offended business owners inquire of a
heterosexual couple if they are married before they offer
them certain services or would they knowingly serve gluttons
an unlimited buffet?).
This ought not to be. If memory serves me correctly, for
those who profess Christ as Savior and Lord, your lifestyle
before your conversion was one of wickedness, perversion,
shameful sins of fornication, adultery, lying, thieving,
lusting, murdering, gossiping, hating, greed, discord and
being dope heads and happy drunkards.
But. You were converted and now are part of the Body of
Christ. Someone told you about the grace of God while you
were deep in your sins. Someone whom did not retch at the
fact that they had to engage you in a conversation about
your former lifestyle being apart from the grace of God.
So too, allow the same liberty for the LBGTQ community
from which some of you were previously members of. Do not
allow the shrill sound of your religious liberty to drown
out the memory of whom you once were but are now a new
creation in Christ.
Do not use religious freedom as a hypocritical cloak to
do or speak evil.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at Tolliver@Juno.com |
